Transcription
So, get an update on this breaking news unfolding in Orange County. Let's go to Gigi live at the fire command post in Cypress where we've gotten good news about the toxic chemicals in the area after 5 days of uncertainty. Gigi.
That's right. We're with the incident commander in charge of this emergency response. He is the interim chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, TJ McGovern. Chief, thank you so much for joining us. A lot of folks watching at home. Good news. The threat of that levy has been eliminated, but the threat still remains. Can you talk about the difference between a levy and an explosion?
Sure. Basically, last night we went after and confirmed that the threat of a levy has been eliminated. And what that meant is the levy was a pressurized cylinder that there was a basically an explosion and a pressurized cylinder that was eliminated because the biggest difference is now we're not talking about a pressurized cylinder. There's no pressure. Uh the levy has a much bigger blast radius than just an explosion. So getting that off the table is basically showing our evacuation zones could in theory start being diminished because the uh the threat of the levy has now been gone.
A pressurized explosion could send not only a fireball, a plume, but could send that that tank literally exploding that sort of shrapnel into the air too.
Absolutely. Levies are very dangerous. All the people in the fire service, they're aware of levies. These are containers that are sealed, pressurized. There's been many firefighter fatalities, many civilian fatalities based off these levy situations. It's just that boiling liquid evaporating uh explosion with those vapors. Very dangerous, very high profile, and you got to be very strategic how you go after these.
The threat though of a different type of explosion remains, and any explosion obviously is dangerous. This one would not be as strong, but it's still a very volatile situation.
Absolutely. We are still, this is not over yet. We are still, there's definitely risks. Right now, we're dealing with the risk of an explosion, and there's also a risk of uh a leak. We're still doing those, but right now, what we're doing is we're mitigating the risk for an explosion. And how do you do that is you decrease the temperatures for ignition. And that's what the crews are doing right now. All that work last night, we're able to peel back some of the skin on the tank, peel back some of that insulation, and now we're directing our hose lines, unstaffed hose lines and deluge monitors to more penetrate into the internal tank to cool those temperatures. We we're at the low 90s right now. Uh early on, it was pegged at 100. It didn't go over 100, so it could have been well over, but right now we're definitely trending in the right direction due to the work last night. As far as there still could be a leak, uh right now we're actively monitoring the air. We've been doing it continuously from the get-go. We are getting no readings that are outside the within normal limits. So, there's no leak going on right now. And we're just working continuously, religiously to make sure those last two mitigations are handled, which is explosion. And we're doing that by water, monitoring the temperature and a potential for a leak.
And the leak, of course, could go into the sewers, into the storm drains, end up in the ocean. But you're taking efforts to prevent that. Those were done immediately. So those would be a contingency plan, right? We're going to go ahead and put dikes, barriers up and and catch basins to make sure that should this go to a leak, we will get that. One of the biggest things that the experts are saying right now, this this product started as a liquid and then it's going to solidify and it's going to make into a solid. And we are unsure that if it's all a solid right now, if some of it is solid, is there some gooey? Is it in the solidification phase? That's what we're looking at right now. So when we get the temperature down, we remove the risk for an explosion. If we can confirm that it's became a solid, we remove the risk for a leak. So a lot more work to do, but we are very happy that now the elimination of the threat of a levy is off the table. Big step due to the work of our crews last night.
How will you know? I know you can't see inside the tank. And I know this is complicated, chief. This is science. You've got engineers working with you. You've got a whole team of some of the smartest people in the state working with Orange County Fire Authority today. How will you know if it solidifies? And do you have to physically go up to the tank to see the temperature reading?
So the temperature reading that I can answer that one easy. So there is a display and we couldn't see it from the drone footage. So we had to get people up there. So yes, you can see it. There is a display, but you you have to be at the tank. Now, how do you know if it's solidified? I cannot answer that question. I'm assuming there's widgets and tools out there that the experts will know. I'm not sure. It's about a density reading and stuff like that, but it's complicated.
They are working on it and they're going to be able to determine because now they can peel back the outside shell and the insulation and work. They are working to figure out what it's doing in the solidification process.
And I know this is complicated. This is the question I'm getting from folks including friends who have been evacuated living in their RVs. Some folks are at the shelters. Are you looking at downgrading downsizing the evacuation zone?
So evacuations you said is very complicated event. Yes. But what it is for the public when you remove them from their houses and and put them in these shelters and stuff you're taking away their normaly right and we understand we are with them. We are trying to get the public back as soon as we can but we can't do that until a life safety risk has been mitigated. We are actively working on that. We appreciate the support and the patience from the public and we are working to get them back home, but we just can't do it until it's safe to do, but we're going to get there. Um, so we we understand.
You're working on it. Interim Chief TJ McGovern, the incident commander, sleepless nights and a couple more sleepless nights, I'm sure, until this is all resolved. Thank you so much for your time. We're going to have much more on Good Day LA. More also with the chief about the ongoing situation in Garden Grove. We'll send it back to you.